A new AI character is about to join the cast of Bioshock Infinite, according to a 2K artist whose CV mentions he’s been "providing animation and R&D for a new AI companion character”.

No mention yet as to who it might be, and all traces of the slip have been scrubbed away from the offending LinkedIn bio, but if the same coin-sniffing and item scroinging AI routine as Elizabeth’s holds true, the smart money’s on Jeremiah Fink.

Source Superannuation

Monaco, basically Ocean’s Eleven in indie video game form in case the name is unfamiliar, has already recouped the $100,000 investment which allowed it to exist in the first place. Investors Indie Fund, including the likes of Braid creator Jonathan Blow have a history of backing games that make their money back quickly after launch, having helped bring Antichamber, Dear Esther and more to the market. A Humble Store pre-order promotion helped Monaco make it even faster.

"For me the most significant thing about the early success with regards to Indie Fund is that it shows that there are many ways of approaching funding, from crowdfunding to investment models like Indie Fund, to personal loans – I know a number of devs that have taken loans from other devs – to the traditional publisher model,” Monaco dev Andy Schatz said. "More opti ... Read more »

Steam and the App Store as well as XBLA before them might have put indie games on the map, but it’s now the tiny studios and independent developers who are making platforms, not the other way around. Nintendo seems to have realized this by dropping the vast majority of its requirements for indies to get onto Wii U, but it’s Sony who is receiving most praise from indies for its forthright submission process and communication with developers.

"It feels like at this point Sony kind of gets the notion that they are not a necessity,” according to Vlambeer’s Rami Ismail. "They are not a requirement for an indie developer to be successful. If Sony doesn’t want to play ball, people can go to a number of other platforms and be successful on those. We can go to Steam, we can go to iOS, we can go to any of th ... Read more »

The Sony Xperia SP is now available on the UK with mobile carriers T-Mobile and Orange, and both carriers are offering the handset for £249.99 on their pay as you go offerings, the handset will also be available SIM free from a number of retailers from tomorrow.

The Sony Xperia SP features a 4.6 inch HD Reality Display with a resolution of 1280 x 720 pixels, plus a dual core 1.7GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, and an 8 megapixel Exmor RS camera sensor plus a front facing VGA camera for video chat.

Other specifications on the Sony Xperia SP include NFC and 4G LTE, it will come in a range of colors which include red, black and white, it will also be headed to O2, Three and EE at a later date.

Source ... Read more »

Amazon is holding a special promotion for the Kindle Paperwhite e-reader, making versions of the device available for $99 with a special promotional code. If you want the Kindle Paperwhite for $20 off just enter the coupon code "KINDLEPW” during the ordering process. The deal applies to any version of the Kindle Paperwhite, and it runs through April 30, 2013.

 
To refresh your memory, the Kindle Paperwhite’s display has a resolution of 212ppi, and it has a light guide system that scatters light evenly across the display, so it is easier to read in different environments. It also has a 25 percent higher contrast ratio than previous Kindles.

The device is 9.1mm thick and at 7.5 ounces, also lighter than a paperback novel. The battery will go eight weeks on a single charge too.

Source ... Read more »

Oppo has this week added a new addition to their range of Android tablets, in the form of the newly launched Oppo R809T tablet, which measures just 6.93 mm thick, but not the world record breaking 6.13mm as advertised a few months back.

So the 6.45mm thick Alcatel One Touch Idol smartphone for the moment still holds its title as the worlds thinnest smartphone..

The Oppo R809T Android tablet is fitted with a 4.7-inch 720p in-cell display, powered by a 1.2GHz quad-core processor supported by 1GB of RAM.

Oppo will ship their Oppo R809T Android tablet running Google’s latest Android 4.2 Jelly Bean operating system, together with a 2 megapixel front facing camera for video calling, together w ... Read more »

At this years CES exhibition back in January, Chinese manufacturer Hisense was showcasing a number of tablet products including their new Hisense Sero 7 Lite, which Hisense created ready for launch within China.

However it now looks like Hisense is gearing up to the Android tablet to North America after its Hisense Sero 7 Lite Android tablet was spotted at the FCC this week.

The Hisense Sero 7 Lite Android tablet is expected to ship with Google’s Android 4.1 Jelly Bean operating system installed, and comes with 802.11b/g/n WiFi connectivity together with a 7 inch multitouch display.

Unfortunately no hardware specifications, pricing or availability in the US has been released ... Read more »

There have been a number of rumors about the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 over the last few months, and now it would appear that we could possibly have a picture of the handset, along with some more details on the devices specifications.

The device below is rumored to be the Samsung Galaxy Note 3, although we are not sure if this is actually it or another new device from Samsung, the handset is rumored to come with a 5.99 inch HD display with a resolution of 1920 by 1080 pixels.

The Samsung Galaxy Note 3 is rumored to feature Samsung;s new 8 core Exynos Octa 5 processor with a clock speed of 2GHz, the handset is also rumored to come with a massive 3GB of RAM, plus Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean.

There are no details as yet on exactly when Sam ... Read more »

Sony’s latest flagship Android tablet, the Sony Xperia Tablet Z is now available to pre-order in the US, the device us available from Sony’s online store and it comes with some impressive specifications.

The Sony Xperia Tablet Z features a 10.1 inch display with a resolution of 1920 x 1200 pixels, there is also a quad core 1.5GHz processor and 2GB of RAM, and it comes with Android 4.1 Jelly Bean.

The Tablet Z comes with an 8.1 megapixel rear facing camera which features Sony’s Exmor R sensor, plus 32GB of built in storage, NFC, LTE, a microSD card slot and the device is also waterproof and dustproof, this version of the tablet comes with 4G LTE, you can find out more details over at Sony.

Source ... Read more »

Earlier today Samsung announced their new Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 (7.0), which comes with a 7 inch display, and now it would appear that details have been revealed on the Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 (8.0).

The Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 (8.0) recently appeared in the Bluetooth SIG, the device is expected to feature an 8 inch display with a resolution of 1280 x 800 pixels and will come with Android Jelly Bean.

As yet we do not have any other details on the Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 (8.0), we wonder if it will come with similar specifications to the 7 inch version in terms of processor, camera and more.

Source ... Read more »